MANILA, Philippines – In the name of efficiency, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 14 bringing back the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) into the fold of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

Signed on Tuesday, February 28, the EO basically overturns an EO signed by former President Benigno Aquino III in 2011 which placed CIAC under the then Department of Transportation and Communication (now Department of Transportation or DOTr).

Duterte’s EO reverts CIAC into a subsidiary of the BCDA but maintains the DOTr’s supervisory function over the Clark International Airport on policies and operations.

“The CIAC is hereby restructured from being an attached agency of DOTr to a subsidiary of BCDA. The ownership of CIAC shall be transferred to the BCDA,” reads Section 2 of EO 14.

The DOTr is ordered to transfer all the CIAC shares currently owned by the national government and its nominee stockholders to the BCDA and its nominee stockholders.

The restruction is necessary “to ensure that the development of CCAC (Clark Civil Aviation Complex) remains parallel with the development of CFZ (Clark Freeport Zone) as a premier investment and promotions destination,” reads the EO.

The EO is also intended to improve management of the Clark International Airport which the Duterte administration intends to use as an alternative airport to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Under Duterte’s order, CIAC’s mandate will now be to engage only in “civil aviation, aviation-related services and aviation-related logistics activities within the CACC and the Clark Industrial Estate 5 areas, as defined in EO No 716.”

For all other business activities, CIAC must get the approval of the DOTr and BCDA.

The DOTr is given “full regulatory and operational control” over the operations of Clark International Airport.

The CIAC’s decision-making body is a Board of Directors to be chaired by the DOTr Secretary or his designated representative.

Its vice chairpersons shall be the Secretary of Tourism, BCDA president, president and chief executive officer of CIAC, or their designated representatives.

The BCDA, CIAC, and Clark Development Corporation are instructed to formulate Implementing Rules and Regulations within 30 days from the effectivity of the EO. – Rappler.com